Acquisition Program Engineer - Journeyman (EPASS 79 EB)

The Air Force Program Executive Officer for Weapons (AFPEO/WP) oversees the acquisition and sustainment of a wide range of Air Force munitions, missiles, and related systems. To support the Armament Directorate’s ongoing mission, the Air Force seeks contracted Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) to supplement its military and civil service workforce.

Essential Job Functions:

Performance will primarily focus on concept through fielding of the system with some support to operation, maintenance, and sustainment. In parallel, performance will include support to the missions of international armaments cooperation and FMS, which may be integral to development, production, fielding, and sustainment of certain systems.

The Contractor shall apply knowledge and experience in the design, development, production, operation, and sustainment of air armament systems. The Contractor shall execute tasks throughout the acquisition life cycle from requirements analysis through disposal of a system. The Contractor shall provide experienced engineering and technical resources with armament domain experience to support the required tasks. The Contractor shall ensure all engineering support requiring a bachelor’s degree or greater have an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredited college of engineering degree. Degrees in engineering technology are not considered to be qualifying for these requirements.

Armament and conventional munitions systems to be supported include (but are not limited to) air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, guided and unguided bombs, cruise missiles, cluster bomb units, nuclear payload guidance and control, directed energy systems, warheads, fuzes, seekers/sensors, ammunition, bomb racks, pylons, aerial targets, airborne test and air combat training and integrated instrumentation systems, radars, threat generators and simulators, Munitions Material Handling Equipment (MMHE), containers, and air base operability equipment. Also included is artillery and CAD/PAD, offensive and defensive aircraft countermeasures, rockets and explosive release devices (i.e. cartridges, squibs) and all other conventional munitions utilized in the USAF represented in class of supply Five (V).

The Contractor shall perform the following tasks, as applicable, to include, but not limited to:

• Conduct and support all engineering and technical activities required during the material solution analysis, technology, engineering, and manufacturing development, production and deployment, and operation and support phases of the systems acquisition process to include the following: requirements definition and analysis, architecture design, implementation, integration, verification/validation (V/V), transition, decision analysis, requirements management, risk management, interface management, and configuration management. This includes; the development and preparation of all engineering and technical documentation that is an inherent part of the activities listed above (e.g. Systems Engineering Plan), systems review and analysis with written reporting, briefing, and artifact development as required for all of the technical specialty areas defined in this section; technical reviews, audits, and system engineering technical reviews and the planning and execution of all necessary technical reviews, assessments, and interchange meetings (e.g. Critical Design Review, Manufacturing Readiness Assessment, Reliability Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM)) and associated artifacts (e.g. Critical Design Review entry and exit criteria).

• Implement robust processes to address the life-cycle requirements of each product support area.

• Produce architectures which assess the users’ needs, document the planned and existing systems intended to meet the needs, determine deficiencies, develop alternative solutions, recommend solutions to meet the deficiencies, and support development of a plan to implement the chosen solution.

• Provide developmental planning support in evaluation of the military mission to be accomplished and related requirements documentation.

• Compare the ability of existing and/or derivative existing systems to meet mission needs/requirements.

• Advise and assist with detailing the operational requirements and the functional interactions within the system and with other systems, considering life cycle costs, logistics supportability, human factors, etc., to determine if the basic building blocks of the system are defined in sufficient detail to support a development program effort.

• Plan the integration of existing engineering technology into systems.

• Support AoAs for aircraft, cruise missile and weapon systems, in compliance with applicable criteria of DoDD 5000.01, DoDI 5000.02 and Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Program Analysis and Evaluation) guidelines. All models, tools, and methodology used for the analysis will be Government approved and not Contractor proprietary. Requirements include best case analysis, which would support mission needs analysis and AoA, comparative analysis, excursions analysis, sensitivity analysis and uncertainty analysis.

• Translate DoD user requirements into system requirements for designing, developing, testing, and evaluating systems and subsystems.

• Perform reviews, studies, audits, evaluations, and analyses and provide technical recommendations to the Government.

• Review and analyze proposals or modifications for technical feasibility, compatibility, and cost effectiveness.

• Provide engineering analysis of system training, training equipment and simulator requirements; prepare technical documentation; and provide engineering evaluation of equipment and simulator designs.

• Conduct engineering performance, effectiveness, cost effectiveness, cost performance, life cycle cost, producibility, reliability and maintainability, risk, and scheduling trade-off studies.

• Conduct simulation studies to evaluate all aspects of armament system development and acquisition, including but not limited to, system and component performance, engineering trade-offs, system effectiveness and logistics.

• Conduct, make or buy analyses for systems, subsystems and components of principal, support, and test equipment.

• Conduct and evaluate time and engineering cost estimates in support of research, development, test, training, and acquisition of armament related systems.

• Perform engineering tasks concerned with definition of advanced aircraft, cruise missile, weapon systems, munitions systems, and range systems requirements and performance. Develop and utilize analytical and simulation analysis techniques to optimize system performance and/or system effectiveness; establish system sensitivities, define system parameters, evaluate hardware, and validate flight test results in terms of overall system relationships and applications.

• Apply skills and knowledge of drafting and Government drafting specifications and regulations to review, evaluate and monitor weapon system prime contractor and supplier drawings for completeness, currency, technical accuracy and conformance to requirements, specifications, regulations, and quality control.

• Advise and assist with weapon system contractor-related source selection tasks, to include but not limited to, recommending evaluation areas, factors, sub-factors, elements and criteria; developing and administering source selection documentation; developing, reviewing and finalizing reports, summaries, memorandums and briefings necessary to the source selection process; analyzing and reviewing proposals in a non-decision making role as an advisor (not an evaluator); and preparing responses to the proposals.

• Develop, prepare, review, and integrate selected milestone review documentation, periodic reports, and certifications as identified in DoDI 5000.02 and AF Supplement 1, and recommend and prepare changes.

• Engineering Products. Develop munition or subsystem proposal technical trade studies and other documentation for integration, upgrade, and modification efforts, to include aircraft integration.

• Provide independent analysis of system readiness for production and risk management.

Contractor shall perform work that applies to theoretical and practical knowledge of weapon systems engineering in the DoD acquisition process.The Contractor shall provide support to the Government on the following tasks:

• Conduct reviews on armament programs portfolio to evaluate and/or recommend alternative plans, improve systems engineering programs/processes, manage/sustain program technical baseline, and design/perform system level tests to assure that subsystems and system performance is achieved IAW approved specifications; perform program reviews to evaluate alternative proposed plans, systems engineering programs, design and test results to assure that subsystem and system performance is achieved IAW program specifications; prepare technical documents which define, specify, and recommend system/subsystem characteristics.

• Prepare management reports and conduct technical presentations for planning, implementation and corrective actions using application of engineering principles; perform validation of systems, including development of criteria and procedures.

• Analyze and/or evaluate results of major engineering weapon systems.

• Provide system/program engineering, technical support and technical training to support programs/initiatives, including but not limited to, acquisition, development, integration, sustainment, continued evolution, deployment/fielding and installation, and operations oversight; provide engineering support services and inputs to program and project risk management activities in compliance with Air Force Systems Engineering Assessment Model (AF SEAM) processes.

• Provide engineering support to conduct formal trade studies based on engineering performance, effectiveness, cost effectiveness, cost performance, life cycle cost, producibility, reliability, maintainability, risk, and schedule; provide technical recommendation support services, including reviews, studies, audits, evaluations and analyses, scientific and procedural guidance, documentation, technical analysis, and support of associated engineering IPTs.

• Provide proposal analysis support services that compare and quantify proposed systems, components, approaches for technical feasibility, compatibility, and cost effectiveness; provide concepts and requirements analyses support services including, but not limited to, reviewing and analyzing: Initial Capabilities Documents; CDDs; CPDs; AoAs; Military Utility Assessments (MUAs); CONOPS; Technology Development Strategies; Functional Configuration Audits/Physical Configuration Audits (FCAs/PCAs), and; Technology Standards Profiles.

• Review and analyze system concepts and user requirements that have been approved and entered into a system requirements baseline (functional, allocated, and product).

Required Skills:

Due to the sensitivity of customer related requirements, US Citizenship is required.

A Bachelor’s degree in an Engineering discipline plus 5 years of relevant experience or a Master’s degree plus 3 years of relevant experience is required.

Active Top Secret Security Clearance.

Job Requirements: